I wrote recently that I could do two columns a day because of the emanations in the press that are horrible, terrible, obnoxious, prejudicial, bizarre, sickening, insane, unbearable and downright immoral. A columnist sets about preparing his commentary, and there appears before him some ghoulish offering, and anger compels you to leave what you plan and respond.
For example, some misplaced souls want the public consultations by Exxon for its six deep water exploration to be put on hold because CPL cricket is in town. There are untold numbers that will not watch the cricket and will not go to cricket.

Journalist, Leonard Gildarie and I host the popular talk show – the Freddie Kissoon-Gildarie Show. We put on a show each night last year when all the CPL finals were in town. The viewership for those programmes was the same as when we had our shows when there was no cricket.
What is the point? Life goes on even when there is a huge, national event. This year, Gildarie and I will do the same. Those who like cricket will watch it. Those that want to see the Freddie Kissoon-Gildarie Show will watch it. We live in a psychologically corrugated society. To ask that Exxon postpone its important event because of cricket is a foolish thing, but the society will remain silent on such an atrocity.

I lived in this country all my life except for studies abroad and a short stint with the Maurice Bishop Government in Grenada. I witnessed one of the most dangerous and tragic moments in the entire history of Guyana – five months of a systematic assault on the March 2020 national elections.
Mr. Dominic Gaskin, the son-in-law of then President Granger and at the time one of the leaders in the AFC will discuss that event tonight on the show. He will do on the programme what people like a lady named Simone Mangal-Joly (SMJ) is yet to do.

I read a letter by SMJ and was so enraged that not even on my sick bed would I have been deterred from replying. I will quote from SMJ and then juxtapose my comments bringing out the deep-seated hypocrisy of minds like SMJ. Her letter is a condemnation of what she perceives to be mistreatment of recent protesting sugar workers.
SMJ: “These actions remind me of what I have been experiencing and witnessing first hand since 2021, with the psychologically hostile way the State has been responding to legitimate concerns….”

Comment: Why since 2021 and not 2020? Where was SMJ at the beginning of 2020 and at the end of 2018 when a legitimate no-confidence motion was ignored in contempt of the constitution by the ruling APNU+AFC?
SMJ: “Some individuals attack citizens who voice valid democratic concerns.”

Comment: I do not know if SMJ has any training in sociology or political theory, but I think she has unwittingly exposed her hypocrisy by telling us about citizens who are concerned with democratic values. She will be hard-pressed to tell us what are democratic concerns and if the rigging of a national election is not the most evil threat to democratic values.
I hope SMJ has some respect for the long political activism of the former Speaker of the House, Mr. Ralph Ramkarran. For the sociological education of SMJ, I will quote what Mr. Ramkarran wrote 10 days ago. Can SMJ tell the nation if she thinks she is included in the list that Mr. Ramkarran referred to? If I was asked that question, I would say yes.
I hope she internalises the words below and let them guide her when she continues her pretense of knowing Guyanese politics.

I hope SMJ knows that Mr. Ramkarran belongs to an opposition party (ANUG) and is a critic of the government.
I quote: “It was, therefore, no surprise to me that at this time there were only a few muffled voices protesting the attempt to rig the elections of 2020 and that the vociferous civil society that does not spare the PPP or its governments, fell largely silent. Civil society must not now complain when some articulate what they believe to be its tarnished record.”
SMJ: “What kind of nation do we envision for ourselves? One that suppresses and shames or one that listens, understands, and reforms? Do we expect the latter to emerge from silence? And do we not see our democratic power in collectively breaking this silence?”

Comment: The last person that should utter those words is people like SMJ who stood silent when Guyana was near the precipice in 2020. Mangal-Joly is either a jolly lady that is misguided or a lady whose mangled words could threaten Guyana’s democracy.